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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. staff — employees
  3. hand — in cards
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. hand — help
  8. cap — of ice
  9. field — a subject
  10. staff — employees
  11. cap — a lid
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. cap — a hat
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. field — farmland
  19. bass — low music
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. bass — the fish
  22. field — for sport
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. fork — in a road

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com